The entryway in this house is a longish hallway with a sandstone wall (backside of the fireplace) on the left side and a little alcove with shelves and a closet on the right side. My last post was on the closet and how we transformed the doors into something more modern. The little alcove had 2 small shelves and a drawer. I have plans to add a bench in this space down the road but I wanted to get rid of the dark wood look now. Continue reading →

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All of the doors and trim in the house are dark wood. The doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms are solid wood but the hall closet doors are hollow core. I envisioned having modern doors in our house, something different than the standard 6 panel doors. I priced out new doors but in the end I didn’t want to throw away the current doors which for the most part were solid wood. So I decided that I would try to make my own modern doors. I bought a router and off I went. I’m so pleased with the results!

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Our 1972 ranch had what I think was the original cedar shake shingle roof. It was not in great shape. The shingles were curling and you could see staples and nails sticking up everywhere. We knew when we bought the house that we would have to replace it, and when the insurance company said they would insure us but gave us 6 months to replace the roof we knew it would have to be our first big project.

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As long as the dust was flying we decided to take out the old banisters that led to the sunken family room. I’m keeping the old spindles with thoughts of making them into tall candlesticks but that is low on the priority list. The banisters were pretty easy to remove, a crow bar and some muscle. We had a friend build us a new bottom step so that it is ready for hardwood flooring when we get to that step.

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We have plans to redo the kitchen at some point. We keep changing our minds on what we want so for now we are going to sit tight. We have a few new appliances to tide us over but the cabinets are in decent shape so it isn’t the room we are focused on right now.

As part of the drywall project we wanted to open up the wall from the kitchen to the family room. We were hoping we could have it completely open but we did end up needing a post. It still makes a huge difference in sight lines and natural light.

Check out the before and after (no beautiful “afters” yet, still in progress)

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The ceilings in the main living areas had acoustic tiles glued to the drywall. I’m sure in the 70’s this was very cool. Now not so much.

We tried to remove them in my art studio but it was a horrible mess and we couldn’t get the glue off the drywall. Sooo… new drywall over all of the ceilings. It was about 2 weeks of living in the basement during the day.

I don’t need to say that it was dusty. I thought we were in the clear when the drywallers left on a Friday. Oh but wait. Now the finishers come in and they make even more dust.

But now we have smooth ceilings and it doesn’t feel like we live in a cave.

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We purchased a 1970’s house a few months ago. Most of the house has not been touched since 1972 so needless to say it needs alot of updating. We figure it will take us many years to tackle it all. I will share all the before pictures here at some point.

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Today my dear friend Nicole is sharing how to take a boys shirt and turn it into a very cute pillow cover. She also has some other ideas on re-purposing other clothing items. Nicole always amazes me with her ideas. She is one talented lady!

Hi, this is Nicole and I’m happy to share my pillow sham project with you today.